KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Former Rockies first baseman Todd Helton was a heady dude long before he outsmarted -- and outworked and overpowered -- pitchers during a 17-year career that on Tuesday landed him in the Hall of Fame.

Helton’s 3.92 GPA at Knoxville Central High placed him ninth in a graduating class of 261. Guys like that make keen decisions, like accepting a football scholarship from the University of Tennessee as a quarterback even though baseball was his dream. If for some reason football tugged at his heart, he was astute enough to look around him.

Heath Shuler finished second in Heisman Trophy voting in 1993 and played in the NFL. Helton was on the Vols' roster when eventual Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning arrived.

“I realized real quick that I wasn't going to be an NFL quarterback,” Helton said. “Football was paying my way to college, but I definitely focused on baseball.”

Football wasn’t the best sport for Helton, but it turned out Tennessee was a good place to wear shoulder pads when a bat wasn’t in his hands. His head coach, Phillip Fulmer, and his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, David Cutcliffe, encouraged Helton to follow his heart, even if it led him away from football practice.

“They were baseball fans,” Helton said. “They let me concentrate on baseball during baseball season. I’d done all the individual practice, and once we’d break for ‘team’ [a segment of football practice with backs, linemen and receivers together, rather than separated with their position groups], the kickers would run and I would run in [to the dressing room].

“I’d run in with them and go to the cage and hit. I’d miss the second half of practice. They never knew I was gone.”

Helton wasn’t big on the part of football Manning became famous for -- film study and off-field preparation. Helton said he would playfully josh Manning as a “teacher’s pet,” but it was because he showed up on campus with a greater understanding of the football offense than Helton had in three years in the program. 

Watch this, though, and you’ll see Manning didn’t mind some kidding back then:

Helton was drawn to baseball: you fix problems by swinging the bat or fielding, and you can put the lessons to use the next day in a game.

Still, Helton found a kindred soul in Cutcliffe, who went on to hold head-coaching jobs at Ole Miss and Duke and now works for the Southeastern Conference as special assistant to the commissioner for football relations.

“All of the tests, all of the stuff that we had to learn from coach Cutcliffe, there was always a baseball saying in the back,” Helton said. “For instance, one of them was ‘don’t be a dirt-kicker.’ That stayed with me. Don’t show your emotions. Don’t show the other team that you’re mad.

“I broke many a bat and many a helmet, but it was under the tunnel where no kid could see. In football, you practice and everything is focused on that one game, that one week. I took that football mentality into baseball, and let it out into every game.”

Enshrinement ceremonies in Cooperstown, N.Y., are set for July 21, but don’t worry if you can’t make the trip. The Rockies are planning to honor Helton on Aug. 17 at Coors Field, ahead of a game against the Padres.

Helton has said on a couple of occasions recently that he has found joy in his current position as a special assistant to the general manager. His responsibility is to work with hitters throughout Colorado's farm system.

“They listen to me because I’ve been there -- I enjoy working with the kids that are hungry,” said Helton, who often works in tandem with former Rockies manager Clint Hurdle, another special assistant helping guide Minor Leaguers. “I think I relate to them because I’m a realist. I tell them straight up, good or bad.

“A lot of former players, when they quit playing, the game got easier for them. That’s not the case for me. It got harder. I look at what those guys -- back when I was playing and now -- and it’s a hard sport. I don’t think I can get in the box out there. It looks hard on TV.”

Through a totally different realm, former teammate Brad Hawpe picked up on Helton’s ability to help people who may be struggling.

“In an offseason, he and I were going on a hunt and we’d stop off, at a Waffle House for example,” Hawpe said. “Our waitress, he could tell she had the longest day. She was just wanting to take our order, go home and get some rest.

“He could immediately change the rest of her day through the way he spoke to her. He was the nicest guy. ‘Well, sweetheart, you look so good. You look like you’ve been working hard all day and you’re still glowing, and it’s such an honor to be waited on by you.’

“Then we would leave and she’d have a $100 tip. Somebody was just trying to get through the day, and he could change their own outlook.”

Tickets are still available for Rockies Fest at Coors Field on Saturday.

Click here for information on tickets and the many Major Leaguers and prospects who will be at the event. All ticket proceeds will benefit the Colorado Rockies Baseball Club Foundation, a charity that offers programs to benefit at-risk and underprivileged youth.

A group of prospects participated in a minicamp in Scottsdale, Ariz., last week. Activities involved mostly the normal buildup to Spring Training. Here are highlights:

• Righty Chase Dollander, the Rockies’ top pick and ninth overall selection in 2023, didn’t pitch in pro games last summer, but he concentrated on rest and recovery from his final season at the University of Tennessee. Dollander, Colorado's No. 3 prospect who's rated as the eighth-best righty pitching prospect by MLB Pipeline, threw bullpen sessions during the camp. Also throwing bullpen sessions was righty Sam Weatherly, a third-round pick (Clemson) in 2020 who missed last season after left shoulder surgery.

• The prospects were among the first to have their baseline data collected in the Rockies’ new performance lab.

• Rockies assistant player development director Jesse Stender said righty Brendan Hardy -- who was selected from the Mets in the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 Draft -- has a “tall, strong, athletic, good-looking body and the ball seemed to come out well.” Hardy, 24, posted a 1.80 ERA and struck out 54 batters in 35 innings at three levels last season, topping out at Double-A Binghamton.

• The camp was the Rockies’ first stateside look at 18-year-old outfielder Robert Calaz, a $1.7 million international signing who slashed .325/.423/.561 with seven home runs and 29 RBIs in 189 Dominican Summer League plate appearances last season. Among international players joining Calaz -- who is ranked as the Rockies' No. 15 prospect -- were infielder/outfielder Derek Bernard, 18, and infielder Kevin Hidalgo, who turns 19 on March 1.

This waiting to see if Helton was going to make the Hall was unnecessarily stressful. Well, MLB.com offers a solution to unwind:

Ballpark Zen.

Put this on in the background and enjoy two hours of nice, soothing ambient noise from some of MLB's best ballparks, with a bird's eye view of all the parks.

If you like your peaceful, easy-feeling Colorado style, slide to the 30-minute mark to be greeted by the introductory art for Coors. Listen and watch for 15 minutes as a gentle snow falls over Coors Field. You’ll be as still as the fake coyotes on the playing surface.

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